language during an active shooter drill that a 3 year old will be present at

[Anonymous]

This is really not something I spend time worrying about. We do fire drills and I don't worry about that. My parents' had bomb drills during the cold war.

[Anonymous]

Our preschool does annual active shooter practice/ drills, which I think now are required by some states/ localities, but the staff never calls them by that name in the presence of any children. Instead, the class practices going into the corner of the room (or closet) away from the doors and windows “in case a big storm comes”.

[Anonymous]

No advice, but I just want to say that it is beyond sickening that we even need to think about this stuff!

[Anonymous]

My kids are in preK and elementary at the same school. They don’t call them active shooter drills there. They practice hiding and being quiet.

A couple of years ago there was someone banging on the doors as part of the drill, which was a little over the top IMO.

For the younger kids, the message is something like practicing in case there’s an emergency where they need to hide and be quiet. That seemed to satisfy my kid.

[Anonymous]

Personally I’d opt out but for language I’d just say - “sometimes we practice what to do in an emergency. Some emergencies, like a fire, mean listening to the adults and leaving the building quickly. Some other emergencies mean staying out until a grown up tells you where to go. Kids don’t have to decide what to do. Just listen to me or the grown up teacher. Practicing will help you remember that!”

[Anonymous]

Staying put* not staying out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my work, we had a bear intrusion as our scenario! I think at 3, it could be framed of if we need to be safe in an emergency. What language is used to teach 911 these days?

Do kids this little even know how to use cell phones? I had to show my 7 year old daughter how to make an emergency call. 911 is meaningless if they don't know how to use an iPhone or cell phone. We dont' have a landline.

"Alexa call 911" ??

My 7 year old gets it but my younger children don't. We taught them to run to a neighbor or a mom and ask them to call 911 for them. We tried having an accessible phone at all times, but the younger ones don't get it. It's not as easy as teaching kids to dial 911 on a landline. They can't read the word "emergency" even and have to hit the green button to call.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think if you’re going to do it at all, you need to make it a run and hide game or something like that. No “bad guys.”

When I taught Kindergarten Special Ed, I told the kids we were pretending to camp. I pulled down the shades and told them it was so we could pretend it was night, and then I crumpled up some red paper and told them it was a fire and they needed to get as close as possible to stay warm, and that they needed to be absolutely silent so they could hear any owls or other animals.

I told them the principal was going to come peek in and see how good we were at being quiet in the woods.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I have heard it referred to as the silent game or the quiet game. My kids came home from school when we moved to a different state and said they had had a “code yellow” drill. It took my husband and me awhile to figure out it was an active shooter drill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think this is appropriate at all for Sunday School.

I agree. If true, then OP should hold her kid out that day. That's what good parenting is all about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Note, this is for a church Sunday School type setting, not a school setting.

I am not opposed to a 3 year old participating in an emergency evaluation drill, similar to a fire drill. I am wondering whether it's developmentally appropriate to refer to the unlikely but possible scenario of a "bad guy" coming in.

There's a chance it'll all go over my 3 year old's head, but they are perceptive. Of course I hate that we live in a world where we have to do this stuff, but I'm not opposed to practicing the drill. I just wonder about whether saying "emergency" (like "this is what we do if there's an emergency and we need to leave or crouch down") is more developmentally appropriate than including a reference to a bad guy.

There's not great evidence this helps kids and lots of evidence it causes stress. I'm a psychologist and would opt my preschooler out of such drill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Personally I’d opt out but for language I’d just say - “sometimes we practice what to do in an emergency. Some emergencies, like a fire, mean listening to the adults and leaving the building quickly. Some other emergencies mean staying out until a grown up tells you where to go. Kids don’t have to decide what to do. Just listen to me or the grown up teacher. Practicing will help you remember that!”

+1 to all of this. At my kids' school they're told that it's in case an animal escapes from the zoo, we have to be really quiet to not scare it while they work on catching it. My kids are not at all bothered by this drill and accept this explanation as reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No advice, but I just want to say that it is beyond sickening that we even need to think about this stuff!

Statistically speaking, you don’t.

They’d save more lives by having the mommies practice driving without texting on their phones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No advice, but I just want to say that it is beyond sickening that we even need to think about this stuff!

Statistically speaking, you don’t.

They’d save more lives by having the mommies practice driving without texting on their phones.

Take a look at the most recent statistics. More children die from guns now than car crashes.

[Anonymous]

As a teacher who has taught little ones, I think it's useful for me to do things that let me think about the physical space we're in. Knowing which parts of my classroom are visible from the windows, or what kinds of noises are and aren't audible from outside, might be helpful.

I think it's also helpful for kids to have experience following directions quickly and quietly, or following directions that are hand motions, or whispered etc . . .

But you can do both of those things without ever mentioning a "drill" or an "emergency" or a "bad guy" or an "escaped animal from the zoo". You can make it 100% a game.